On Loving Something Because It's Hard

I was brought up in a culture where the easy stuff is considered the most appealing. Students take certain classes because they can get an easy A. I bought into that mentality very easily. After all, who wants to work twice as hard and do twice as much homework if you can get the same grade by doing less work?

High school debate was my introduction into loving something because it was hard. I was most definitely not a good debater. But I loved it anyway. It presented a challenge, and it gave me incentive to work and learn in a different way than I was used to. It stretched me more than I could ever imagine. It also brought me some of my greatest joys from high school.

Torrey is something else that I love because it is hard. It requires hours reading books that were written centuries ago. It requires pulling all-nighters to write a ten-page paper. It requires deciphering Spenserian poetry. But I love it anyway. More accurately, I love it because it's so hard. It challenges me. It teaches me things that cannot be learned from reading a textbook. It brings meaning to my life and teaches me to appreciate the vast amount of history that occurred before my lifetime.

It may be weird to say that I love Torrey because it is so hard for me, but it's true. Needless to say, I will still worry about Don Rags until tomorrow morning when it is over.